A Different Perspective
by SilverSpiderArt
Summary: Just the movie, but from Metro Man's POV. The man who gave up.


**I DO NOT OWN MEGAMIND**

Wayne Scott sighed. Today was all about him. It was an honor, it really was, but it felt overrated. The expectations laid on him had always been exhausting, but the people needed him. Even if all he ever did was show up and smile, it was hope. Repeating his mother's words in his head, 'In this dark and terrifying world, people need a beacon to follow. I'm so proud of you, son', Wayne took a deep breath. He'd hardly even needed the mayor's music cue; it had been perfectly easy for him to hear everything from where he'd stood behind the wall. Squaring his shoulders, he adjusted his cape and plastered the biggest grin he could muster on his face. Time to be Metro Man, time to give the people a show.

Bursting through the fake white brick wall and onto the stage, the debris falling around him to the cheering of the crowd surrounded him, he dropped into a heroic entrance stance with what he hoped was a charming look, "AII right, put your hands in the air."

That line read was horrible. Fuck it. Failing dramatic, go for cheese. He was better at that anyway. As Elvis came over the speakers, he snapped his fingers and danced to the music, aware he was making a fool of himself but it came with the gig. The mayor seemed to be loving it, but then the excitable little man's crush on him had always been painfully obvious even before Wayne had seen the inside of his office.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your Metro Man!" Mayor Grey crowed as he clapped at the display.

Okay, strike a pose. Dropping to one knee in a power position for drama, Metro Man shot up above the crowd effortlessly. He'd learned growing up that it worked better to act as if things were difficult. It made him seem less alien to pretend to strain, to give queues that he was going to use his inhuman abilities. To remember to move in human ways.

Doing a loop in the air, he cupped his hands over his ears as if to help hear the crowd. They all knew that his hearing far exceeded and species on this planet, yet the act helped them. They'd rather not think about it and it was easier for him to just play along. Metro Man twisted his face into a cheesy grin, playing up the character of himself that this had morphed into over the years "Who's your man?"

Like a pep rally from back in school, the crowd responded predictably, "Metro Man!"

Cheering fans. Beloved. It nagged at him, that he'd really rather they not. He was supposed to want this. Enjoy this. It wasn't supposed to be exhausting. Dropping back to the stage he shot them some finger guns. God, it was predictable. The same act again and again. How didn't they get bored with it? He certainly was.

Behind him men began clearing the stage. Right, greet the crowd and give a speech. Of how honored he was. He'd practiced and rewritten dozens of times and still it was horrendous but it was the best he had. The thought of asking Roxanne for help had crossed his mind, but he didn't want to trouble her with it. Was hardly like their friendship was that close despite what the media made of it. Truth be told, Megamind was far better at entertaining a crowd and improving these things. As he flew over the crowd, slapping hands, Wayne felt that brief bit of jealousy flared to life again.

Well, he could be spontaneous and shake things up too. Instead of kissing the babies held out to him, Metro Man plucked them from their mother's hands. Juggling them, he floated over the stage, laughing nearly hysterically. See fun and spontaneous. As he kissed the babies and returned them with precision to their parents, a part of him cringed, okay maybe that had been too much. Shit. Too late now.

Grabbing the mic tossed to him by the Mayor, Metro Man turned back to the adoring crowd turning up the ham as much as he could. Today was supposed to be fun after all, "Hey, Metro City," he pointed out to the crowd, don't exclude anyone; everyone is equal, play the stage, "Hey. Hey."

Oh, dear lord, a couple cops were shooting into the air. All he could do was laugh awkwardly as he tracked the trajectory of the bullets, questioning if he needed to intervene. The energy level was a bit too feverish if that was how the civil servants were acting. Though in truth he'd long started to wonder just how lax and ineffective the protective services of the city were because of the false sense of security he gave them. There was no way to really know… but the last few years, it had been with a growing dread that he feared he was doing more harm than good.

"You know, you know, I just want to bring it down a bit," time to wind the crowd down; he was struggling to keep smiling anyway, "Boys, a little lower. Thank you, fellas."

With the music dropped to something more fitting of his prepared speech, he continued, "Let's get real for a moment," he floated out over at the crowd. I'm not better than you, I'm one of you. Though he doubted that would come across with all the glamor and trapping of these presentations. He swore they got bigger each time, "That's right. That's right. That's right," how to even start and oh god did that lady just kiss his foot? Just don't acknowledge it and keep going, "Although getting a whole museum is super-cool, is super-cool," fuck! he was sure he'd thought of something better last night but now he was panicking. When in doubt, play the crowd and stall, "you want to know what the greatest honor you've given me is? Do you really want to know? Really?"

"I'll tell you," he spoke as sincerely as he could to the screaming mass before him. How could they all blur together so much when he could hear each heart beat? He dropped down to hover over the water of the reflecting pool. Out of reach of the grabbing hands, but visible to all without being above them. 'Walking' on the water was showing off, but it was what they wanted. It was always what they wanted from him.

"The greatest honor you've given me is letting me serve you, the helpless people of Metro City," well shit, he hadn't meant to add that jab, yet the way they acted, he couldn't help but think of them as helpless. Not after how many times he'd been called to save cats and open jars. They meant well. They were good people. But god it was tiring, "And at the end of every day, well, I often ask myself... who would I be without you?"

Who would he be? His face fell at that thought. Just Wayne Scott. Only he'd been doing this for so long… he wasn't sure he even knew who Wayne Scott was anymore.

The thought didn't last long as someone of the screaming crowd shouted, "I LOVE YOU METRO MAN!"

"And I love you, random citizen," he pointed at the man, laughing and spinning to try and shake the sudden melancholy that had overtaken him.

It was a small conciliation that at the very least this was bound to end eventually and quickly. An event like this always brought his little blue buddy out and god that was always a relief. Nothing was worse than the drawn out social interactions of these parties. The Metro Man ones so much worse than the events he attended in three-piece suits rather than spandex. At formal functions, no one tried to grab or randomly kiss Mr. Scott. Not true for Metro Man. Even having a 'girlfriend' didn't seem to help that much. One of the double standards that were endlessly frustrating. The media went up in arms if the thought Roxanne was cheating on him, but making passes at him so totally cool it seemed.

As the ceremony continued, he idly wondered how Megamind would make his entrance thins time. It was a museum dedicated to him; the little blue man would have to have something grand planned. As the mayor presented the ribbon to be cut, Metro Man put his fingers to his temple and burned the fabric with a calculated beam. Trying not to let the clapping bother him was a struggle. How could this be exciting? He'd been doing this since he was ten. It might have been impressive then, now it was just old hat. A stupid party trick. It all was. Nothing had changed in… years… as if he was stuck in stasis.

And now a giant statue holding a globe. Wayne's shoulders sagged at the sight of it. The implication. He could barely handle the weight of expectation of this city… the hold up the entire world…

He'd never been more relieved to see an ominous cloud of black smoke in his life. Watching his old nemesis set up in seconds like the pro he was, Metro Man took to the air thoughtfully bringing the mic with him. He knew how this went. They'd played this game for over a decade now. The current iteration as comfortable as well broken-in shoes.

"Megamind!" he announced into the mic, hoping the relief in his voice didn't carry.

"Oh, bravo, Metro Maaahn," the blue villain clapped over the giant projection to the boos of the crowd, "Yes, I can play along too. Boo!"

"Should've known you'd try to crash the party," Metro Man, posed above the crowd, acting as if this was a shock was just part of the presentation. Not even the citizens took this seriously as they eagerly watched the exchange of the two supers. It was as expected to them as it had been to Wayne. Everyone knew how this game went. It was entertainment after all. The drones would flock to any disaster and stare. All the better when no one actually got hurt and after all, Metro Man was here to save the day. So it was just part of the show…

"Oh, I intend to do more than crash it. This is a day you and Metrocity shall not soon forget!" Megamind was overacting and hyper on screen and Wayne tried not to smile. The little guy had so much energy. God just to have a little of that.

"It's pronounced," he countered, pointing at the screen, "Metro City!"

"Potato-tomato, potato-tomato," Megamind mocked back, making faces at the crowd.

"We all know how this ends: with you behind bars," after all, that was exactly how it always ended. With Wayne dropping the small man back to prison. The game resting all over again. Forever.

"I'm shaking in my custom baby seal leather boots," the blue villain really was ridiculous. Charismatically ridiculous. What he might do if the blue man only turned that energy to any other venture.

"You will leave Metrocity, or this will be the last you ever hear of Roxanne Ritchi," Megamind proclaimed as the camera panned to the bound reporter.

"Roxanne!" Metro Man gasped dramatically, "Don't panic, Roxie, I'm on my way," he really hoped his over the top gestures made up for the lack of passion in his voice. Wayne couldn't even count how many time he'd said that.

"Yeah, I'm not panicking," even if she wasn't playing along, at least Roxanne seemed to be enjoying herself. Wayne couldn't really blame her; the banter with Megamind was really the only thing that made any of this seem worthwhile.

"In order to stop me, you need to find me first, Metro Man," Megamind announce cheekily, though that changed readily at Roxanne's proclamation.

"We're at the abandoned observatory," her counter was smug as Megamind cut the feed.

As he left Megamind's panic denial behind, Wayne was just relieved to not have to draw this out more than necessary. A quick victory might be anticlimactic, but he really just didn't have a big performance in him today. Rising above the smoke, it only took moments to locate the abandoned observatory and crash through the roof. Fists outstretched as if that made a difference to his powers in the slightest.

Not having really been paying attention, it wasn't until his feet had touched the ground that Wayne registered that something was wrong. His little buddy had actually tricked him. Red X on the floor was overkill, but then that was Megamind for you. Had to appreciate all the effort the blue man went to. The camera bot coming into view had him questioning just what Megamind was actually planning because it seemed a giant mech wasn't on the menu today.

"Over here, old friend. In case you haven't noticed, you've fallen right into my trap." The blue face before him was as familiar now as his own, and their banter played out smoothly, though Wayne had to admit that his heart just wasn't in it.

"You can't trap justice. It's an idea, a belief." A belief defined by the community. The people around him.

"Even the most heartfelt belief can be corroded over time," Megamind's counter hit too hard. It'd been easy when they'd been little. Right and wrong had seemed to clear the way father had described it. Now… what was even true? The will of the people that told him what was just seemed so… fickle…

"Justice is a non-corrosive metal," he tried to convince himself more than anything. To hold to the principles of his parents.

"But metals can be melted by the heat of revange."

"It's 'revenge,' and it's best served cold," he snapped. There was no revenge for him. Nothing to fight. What had been taken from him hadn't been stolen by anything fists could counter.

"But it can be easily reheated in the microwave of evil," oh dear lord, even Megamind had to admit that was corny, surely.

"Well, I think your warranty is about to expire," Metro Man held up a fist, well he wasn't doing any better.

"Maybe I got an extended warranty," the man's green eyeball filled Wayne's vision.

"Warranties are invalid if you don't use the product for its intended purpose," well, corny it was going to stay then.

"Oh, girls, girls, you're both pretty. Can I go home now?" Roxanne's interjection ended the banter and got Megamind back on track.

"Of course. That is if Metro Man can withstand the full, concentrated power of the sun!" the villain pointed dramatically, "Fire!"

The sun? That was certainly new. Yet it wouldn't change anything. Whatever this was, it would end like it always did.

And everything would repeat.

Again.

And again…

Forever.

The statue came back to him. His visage holding up the entire world and it was just too much. Just needed a minute. No one would ever even know.

Speeding himself up until the entire world stood still wasn't a power he used often. He'd learned the hard way the repercussions that it had on the things around him. But it would give him the time he needed. Just to… get his head straight.

Finding the actual location Megamind was in had been easy. Strolling around the few people that were really left in his life, as they sat frozen didn't offer any real help though it at least answered what Megamind's plan was. Death Ray via concentrated sun rays. Considering the potential for damage, he was glad that the little guy had picked such a secluded target. The debris would at worse change the shoreline of the uninhabited area. The treacherous sand bars there even kept the freighters and other boats away. But then Megamind always thought of everything.

And Roxanne was smiling. It was easy to see that she enjoyed Megamind's company. He couldn't blame her… he felt the same way about the little man. If only… a million what ifs. A million things that had gone wrong. And far too late. Their lots had been cast as children. Wayne following the group mind and little Blue rebelling.

As he wandered through the frozen world, Wayne realized he was jealous. No one expected Megamind to save them. Not even when he did. It had been easy to see the way Megamind transformed the areas around him. Wayne always knew where Megamind's lair was, even though their agreement had stated a privacy policy that left their places of living and family off limits to each other, by the low crime rate. A drastically lowered crime rate in what would normally be a bad part of town.

Not through vigilante work. Not through gentrification. But through protection. The blue man didn't tolerate competition. Or so he claimed. Most of the businesses that the villain protected were criminal in nature or run by ex-cons, but they were also apartments and butchers and corner stores. Marked in blue graffiti and all the other gangs and super villains run out.

No cops would go there and Metro Man was far from welcome. Not in the ghettos. These were the forgotten corners of the city filled with poverty and strife. Yet… they were better than other major metropolises and Wayne knew he wasn't the one responsible. He didn't know what methods the blue man used against other criminals and frankly he didn't want to know… as the expression went, "Better the villain you know than the one you don't."

The city was better off with Megamind. He never really hurt anyone. Property, but never people… Wayne had a bigger accidental kill count than Megamind did as far as he knew. Those still haunted him. They always would.

What even was he to the city? A mascot? Was that all Metro Man was now? Someone to entertain them and make them feel secure in their beds at night. Hope and security.

But what about him?

It had been hard enough after father's heart attack. Wayne hadn't even known until Robert Scott was already dead. All his powers and abilities and at thirty-five he'd buried his father. Mother's drinking had only gotten worse after that and even though Wayne had wanted to be there for her… the Scott manor had just been too quiet without father in it. Lacking the smell of pipe smoke wafting through the house. No soft muttering as he went over the stock market numbers. No loud cursing as he complained about the board of directors or the idiot politicians. No more shared glasses of scotch before an open fire with a comforting hand on his arm. What little family he had, was cut in half. More and more often he found solitude alone in the privacy of his bunker. His hidden hide-out. Memorial to his fame and passions. Reminders of things that were happier.

And then… mother… to cancer. Watching her fade had killed him. She refused to let anyone know. Kept the treatment in house. Her pride. Her fear. It was so late stage, the tumor so large… she'd forgone chemo. Said she wanted to die with all her hair.

He still feared that he'd caused it. With his powers. If he'd killed them just be being near them.

But it didn't change that they were gone now and without them… what was the point? What was he even doing? Hero to people who didn't know him. Who could never know him.

He was alone.

At least Megamind had the fish.

This didn't have to be the way it was, did it? Trapped in a permanent stasis, just going through the motions? There had to be another option! Another choice! Megamind had rebelled from what the world had wanted him to be… no one else in the city was living like he was. Were they?

He wasn't even sure where he was going as he left the park until he ended up in the library, passing the stupid "read books" signs with his face on them. Self-help. God that was a novel idea. He could certainly use saving for once. A title caught his eye, "The Happiest Me I Can Be" maybe he could be his own hero.

By the time he'd read the book through twice, it was a slow realization that he came to. _Me first._ He was allowed to put himself over the group. The very concept seemed jarring, to the alien, yet… that's what everyone else did, wasn't it? Choose the things that made them happy. He didn't have to live like this. He didn't have to be everyone's hero!

But… how could he walk away? They certainly wouldn't just let him. If he was still here… they'd keep demanding his attention. His help. He'd never be free of their expectations. The needs of the group.

Maybe he could just stay like this forever. In this frozen world. Stuck. Forever.

Or…

Or he could just leave. Leave like when he took the school house away like the teacher suggested. Though he knew now she'd been joking. But still… if he separated himself, secluded himself… but wouldn't they look for him? Unless…

Unless Megamind won.

A grin spread across his face. That would certainly break the stasis. Change the game. Change everything. And god did he need change.

He could just… go away and Metro Man could die. No one could expect anything from a dead man.

Free. He would be… free.

Giddy with excitement at the outlook of his future, Wayne returned to where he'd left. Back to the red X. Back to Megamind in mid-shout and slowed himself down, the world around him coming to life again.

Barely hearing the man argue with the fish as he started playing out his scene. Throwing himself around the room as if in a panic, "Dag! Crab Nuggets!" Metro Man shouted, keeping it G rated for the kids watching, "Frackled fish cracker!" hitting the roof of the building just enough to bend it before falling to the floor lamenting, "Good lord! I'm trapped!"

"What kind of trickery is this?" the confusion in Megamind's voice nearly made Wayne bust out laughing. He should have done this years ago!

"You mad genius!" Wayne cried from the floor, emoting for all he was worth as he sought to sell his ploy, "Your dark gift has finally paid off."

Wayne almost felt bad at the hopeful pitch in Megamind's voice,"It... It has?"

"This dome is…" shit! What would make sense? He wasn't good at this, "obviously lined… with copper," white lies. That always worked best. Megamind would see through anything less than at least the partial truth.

"Yeah? So?" the tone of the blue alien had Wayne second guessing himself, he had to sell this.

"Copper!" Metro Man fell to the floor, faking weakness as he flailed and cringed back towards the camera, "Copper drains my powers," he hid his face again with a giddy nervous giggle. It was happening. This was really happening!

"Your weakness is copper?" Megamind questioned in disbelief, "You're kidding, right?"

And then it was time. The world around him glowed orange and yellow as he froze time again. He was FREE.

Taking off, Wayne needed one last thing to sell the ruse. A body. Surely just a skeleton would do right? Stopping by the nursing school he snagged the prop and singed his cape with his laser vision before hurling the thing at Megamind's set up. He made a mental note to donate to the school later to cover the cost of the stolen skeleton. It had gone to a good cause.

The smile didn't fall off his face the whole flight home.

Metro Man was DEAD!

He felt dead too. Days had turned into weeks. Weeks to months. And here Wayne Scott still sat.

Why go back to an empty manor? Why go to his meetings? Why do… anything?

He'd kept the television off, save for watching his favorite movies until even they grew old. It would be too easy to get dragged back in. He was free. He was happier like this. Was going to be happier like this. No pressure. No reason to leave the house other than for food.

Wayne hadn't even realized how bad he looked until someone cringed away from his bulk as he'd stared inhumanly still at a box of cereal. A giant man in sweats and a trench coat. Graying hair a shaggy mess and a thick beard grown in. Catching himself in the reflection of the window, he didn't recognize himself. That wasn't Metro Man or Wayne Scott… buying his food, he walked back to his bunker, muttering to himself, "…who am I without you?"

Music. It had always been his bastion. His love. But there just had never been time. Private schools and his degrees. Learning business with father. Becoming Metro Man. His every day had been filled with responsibilities and duties. Personal pleasures had fallen by the wayside. He'd always collected the guitars. Signed by his favorite musicians. Collecting things like that was a proper Scott hobby. One father had encouraged. But playing them? That was for other people.

Not now, though. Now Wayne had no excuses. The days slipped by as he played the same chords over and over. Muttering lyrics to himself until his stomach told him he needed food. Sometimes just lying in bed until his bladder forced him up. No longer certain how much time had even passed.

This was better. The world was better without him. He was better without it. Without the crowds and demands, that drained him down to nothing.

This was just who Wayne was without the world. Just Wayne. Not even Scott. Just… Wayne. Finding himself and making music. Like a… his eyes fell on the M of his robe hanging on the wall, like a Music Man. Ha! Wouldn't that be something. He could be like his idles. On stage. He could… have a purpose again. A new one. Musicians weren't expected to save the world, just entertain people. He could do that, right? Do a show, make someone happy. Make himself happy.

That would be nice. Simple. Peaceful.

No fires and charred bodies. No victims of violence he couldn't stop. No kittens in trees. No pervy old ladies. No super villains endangering people for his attention. No Megamind bantering with… his breath caught. No. No. He refocused. No politicians begging favors. No people demanding why he didn't do more. Couldn't save everyone. No one kissing his feet as if he were a saint.

He'd just be a man. Just a music man. A man who played music.

It was a nice dream.

A dream that came crashing to the ground with the voices he heard in the living room. Having left the couch for food, the first time he'd moved since he woke up, Wayne stared in horror at the two people staring at his freaking water glass. When had they even come in?! He'd just put that there!

Heart hammering he looked around for an escape, but where could he even go? This was his last sanctuary. They already knew he was here even if they hadn't seen him… the floor creaked under him.

Cringing, Wayne turned back to face the pair. The only two people he had left that he actually cared about. With a wry grin, he forced out, "Hey…"

"You're alive?" the shock and disbelief in their voiced brought back the guilt he'd buried.

Freedom had meant cutting all ties… and they were intrinsically part of the chains that had trapped him in the permanent stasis. His mask slipped off, he'd lost practice in keeping it in place in his time alone, "I'm alive."

"But I, we…" Roxanne sputtered, "we saw your skeleton!" and in retrospect, Wayne had been sort of shocked that worked. He'd half wondered if they hadn't shown up because they realized it was plastic and not even real bone, "You were dead!"

Megamind's reaction was hardly more reassuring, "Are you a ghost?" the blue man reached up and touched his face, it was the first physical contact he'd had since his 'death' and really… longer than that, "Speak, apparition."

"There had better be an amazing explanation for this," Roxanne demanded and Wayne could hardly deny them.

Brushing Megamind's hand away, he didn't deserve the look in the blue man's eye, or his touch, "OK. OK, OK, OK. You both deserve the truth…"

He summarized his thought process as best he could. He'd never tried to say any of this out loud before. Other than the checkout, he'd barely even spoken to anyone since leaving. It was hard to tell if he was even making any sense. But he couldn't let them drag him back in. Megamind always dragged him back and he couldn't. He had a new purpose now!

"Once your death ray hit, I'd never felt so alive. So I borrowed a prop from a nearby nursing school. Metro Man was finally dead. And Music Man was born!" he declared, grabbing up his guitar, nearly hysterical as he grinned at them.

They had to understand, this was good for him. He needed this. It wasn't like the city really needed him. They had cops and fire department. The men and women would just have to do their job like in every other city in the world. It wasn't his fault. He wasn't responsible for saving everyone. Just because he could, didn't mean he HAD to. He repeated that over and over in his head over the course of the passing months. He couldn't save everyone. Didn't need to save anyone. People lived and died all over the world. Every day. That was just how life was. He'd accepted that, damn it! Death was inevitable. He couldn't stop it.

"Music Man?" the question echoed.

Well that seemed obvious to him, "…That way I could keep my Iogo," he gestured to the robe. It was a joke, but there also seemed no point in changing his décor. Too much effort. Besides, it was funny. Music Man, "I was finally free to get in touch with my true power... weaving lyrical magic."

"Check this out," no one had heard him play in years, he hadn't had the guts to actually play outside of the bunker yet. The thought of facing people again had kept his ass glued to the couch. But he could play to the closest things he ever had to friends, "I have eyes that can see Right through lead..." he sang, strumming along.

"You're horrible!" Roxanne decried, jumping up in disgust.

"Granted, you have talent. But there's a madman out there destroying our... your city," Megamind pleaded as he rose. Of course, they were here because they wanted something from him. Wanted to drag him back in.

"How could you do this?! The people of this city relied on you, and you deserted them!" Roxanne hurled insults at him and things. Wayne didn't even move. He deserved it. He really did. She couldn't hurt him physically, but she certainly cut deep. She said everything he hated about himself as she smashed a million dollars of musical equipment over his head and a priceless signed Les Paul guitar. He deserved it.

"You left us in the hands of him!" she waved over at Megamind, "No offense."

"No, I'm with you," Megamind agreed, "Look, we need your help."

It was so strange seeing the two work together, but that only strengthened Wayne's resolve, "I'm sorry. I really am," he rubbed the back of his neck, letting out an exhausted sigh, "I'm done."

He couldn't go back to that life. His displays just served to torment him of his past. Finally queueing into the fact that Megamind was wearing one of his old capes, Wayne realized it suited the blue man. They didn't need him, Megamind always had wanted his attention. To play the game. But when it came down to it, he trusted Megamind to think through thing better than he did himself. His little buddy always had a plan and a backup plan for everything. With Roxanne helping him, well, Wayne always knew the two would be perfect together. He was just a third wheel in the game. An unneeded one.

Whatever thing was causing the two to freak out couldn't be anything worse than the Doom Syndicate or Megamind had thrown at it before. Everything Wayne had saved the city from could have been handled by either the police or Megamind's robots. Blue just needed a push. Wayne had always seen the good side of little Blue, ever since they were kids.

He just… needed a chance to change. A reason to.

"You know, little buddy," Wayne reached out, grasping Blue's shoulders, "there's a yin for every yang. If there's bad, good will rise up against it. It's taken me a long time to find my calling. Now it's about time you find yours."

It was a horrible pep talk, but it was the best Wayne had in him. The look on Blue's face as they left. Roxanne's continued curses dropped Wayne's heart into his stomach. It had to be this way. They were better without him.

This was the only way he could survive… as he stared at his reflection in the glass of a display case, Wayne tried to reassure himself. But it didn't work. Disgrace and failure. One form of misery for another, but as least here he didn't have to fake a smile every day.

The Tighten Incident. That's what they called it. Over half of the city had been destroyed… and Wayne hadn't even known. Had never turned on the news… Roxie and Blue had almost died.

And he'd done nothing.

Crawling out of his hole, Wayne faced the world he'd created. The world he'd selfishly created.

Numbly he forced a comb through his hair and put on the dolce suit and a nice tie. Wayne Scott. He tried a smile in the mirror until he at least looked passably human. Using his family's fortunes he could at least minimize the damage he'd inadvertently caused.

A fund was set up to bankroll the repairs. Lawyers hired to defend the blue man from the murder charges. There was nobody so how could there have been a murder? It was a hard case, the trials dragged out for ages as the recording were gone over again and again. But community service had at least been worked out over the course of the city rebuilding.

God, his mind turned to the project, Blue was every bit as brilliant as Wayne always thought he would be. As he would come to Wayne with the next idea he needed bankrolled, green eyes alight with energy, Wayne could only grin and nod along to the waving blue hands.

Retired, he'd told Wayne late one night. Officially retired from the super villain business. And dating Roxanne. Tentatively. There was so much he had to figure out with her. Mistakes to make up for. God Wayne was happy for him. He deserved it. Good at it. Better than Wayne had ever been.

Beyond a doubt, the happiest moment had been being there to witness the first time someone called his little buddy, Mr. Blue. Those big green eyes blinking owlishly before snapping back into motion. Syx Blue. Far from a normal name, but then there never had been anything ordinary about the little man.

In the end, it had been easy to justify signing over the vast majority of the Scott wealth to The Caring Blue Hands charity. To fund the replacement of his horrible statue with one to Megamind. They needed each other. The city and the blue man. The passion in Blue's voice always astounded Wayne, and now turned to building instead of destruction, it was a magical transformation.

There would always be those that never trusted the former villain. Who would always blame him for the chaotic weeks that followed Metro Man's death. That would always blame him for killing their defender. Yet whether the appreciated him or not, Wayne was proud of his little buddy.

The rest would come around. Or not. Those blue shoulders seemed so much stronger than his had been for all his invulnerability. Megamind was strong enough to weather the hate. He'd been forged in it.

Wayne… he would just be a cheerleader… and fade into obscurity.

That had been the plan anyway… but a certain blue man always seemed bound to shake up his entire world…

 _Continued in Long Burning Desires_


End file.
